Nerd Reactor’s coverage of the 39th Annual Saturn Awards

By Laura Sirikul and Holly Amos

We were excited to get the opportunity to attend The 39th Annual Saturn Awards last night, which celebrates accomplishments in the areas of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. It was held in honor of the late Richard Matheson and hosted by Lance Reddick, who most recently appeared in JJ Abrams’ Fox series Fringe and this summer’s White House Down.

As Trekkies, we were proud to see Jonathan Frakes, most well-known for his role as William Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation, receive the Life Career Award. We were sporting tiny TNG badges in his honor all night! People may be unaware of his work behind the camera as a director, writer, and producer, so we were thrilled he received recognition for his accomplishments in those fields. Unfortunately, he was unable to attend the ceremony as he had had a death in the family. The crew of Nerd Reactor would like to extent our sympathies and wish him and his family well.

By far the most wins of the evening were the fine people of Marvel’s The Avengers, which won in the categories of Best Science Fiction Film, Best Supporting Actor, Best Director, and Best Special Effects. We had the opportunity to speak with several of the people involved with the film in addition to those involved with the upcoming ABC series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

When talking with the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Ming Na is Melinda May, said she portrays a top level S.H.I.E.L.D. agent with a dark past. When asked about her character, Na said her character is not only a kick-ass character, but also a pilot and has a shady history that even she doesn’t know yet. She had to train three days a week with intense training, yoga, and other activities to keep up with her physique.

When meeting Na, Laura expressed her gratitude in her playing a strong woman role (which Joss Whedon shines in – creating strong women roles). Her character is not Coulson’s sidekick, but instead his equal.

Clark Gregg, Agent Phil Coulson, lives!!! We chatted with him about his part in the new show. Laura asked if we’d find out in the first few episodes how Coulson lived. He exclaimed, “I want to know!” So I guess we still don’t know how he lives on the show.

He expressed how the Marvel superheroes were his idols growing up and gets excited working on the movies. I told him that his character is now a fan favorite and consider him a super hero. Ever the modest, he still doesn’t see himself that way. Gregg and Coulson are too awesome.

We also spoke to Joss Whedon, our Geek God, about Avengers 2, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Star Wars and Twitter. He said he couldn’t tell us anything or anyone about Avengers 2, but he’s working on it and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. When asked about if he would ever direct a Star Wars film, he joked that he would like to think the reason he wasn’t asked to direct Episode VII was because he was too busy with his Marvel projects. He expressed that if he was offered a Star Wars movie, he wouldn’t be able to pass it up, but he really would like to create his own character and storyline, in general.

When asked about his introduction to Twitter, he said he only joined Twitter to market his film Much Ado About Nothing and will probably transition off Twitter. Laura asked what kind of tweet would capture his attention. He said it was random, but his political tweets would get the most responses and that he would skim through them. Alright, time to get political.

Keith David

While Laura continued to chat with Mr. Whedon, Holly was given the opportunity to speak with Keith David, who has a long list of credits including the recent Cloud Atlas. Since Holly reviewed the Blu-ray (read her review here), she was very excited to talk to Mr. David. David spoke about the process of understanding the sometimes confusing world of Cloud Atlas. From reading the book and script to finally sitting down for a reading with the other actors, which he said was the key to understanding the how the book would be brought to life.

Special Effects Todd Tucker

Since Tucker worked on each character in GI Joe: Retaliation, Laura asked him if any sketches or ideas on how he would want Snake Eyes’ scarred face to look. He said he had many sketches planned for Snake Eyes, but that it would really depend on the direction the director would like to go. He and his team have it in their mind how they would like the iconic character to look like behind the mask though.

Adam Green and Rileah Vanderbuilt

Director of the Hatchet films and FearNET’s Holliston, Adam Green came to the event as support with his wife, actress and fellow geek girl, Rileah Vanderbuilt. We talked about his show Holliston and his famous guests that have appeared on his show – including Seth Green, James Gunn, Danielle Harris and iconic director John Landis. He hopes to get more guest stars for Season 3.

Vanderbuilt, who is a fan of Nerd Reactor, is working on a show for Adult Swim. She is still working with Team Unicorn to come out with hilarious geeky girl films. We love geeky girls!

Abigail Hargrove

Holly spoke with Abigail Hargrove, who plays Brad Pitt‘s daughter in World War Z. She showed up to the event with her four gorgeous sisters in tow and we were fawning over her adorable sequined top and feather bottom mini-dress. Holly asked her if she thought, given her experience shooting World War Z, she’d ever be able to survive a real zombie apocolypse. “No!” she exclaimed.

Shane Black

Laura spoke to Iron Man 3‘s director Shane Black briefly about his Iron Man 3 and his other film projects DeathNote and Doc Savage. Black expressed he would like to do a combination of superhero and science fiction like Star Trek, which lead him to Doc Savage. He said Doc Savage was also named Clark and had his own fortress of solitude BEFORE Superman. So he was his own original hero. Interesting. Laura asked if he would be going to Comic-Con to gather more support for the movie as well as manga’s DeathNote. He is putting DeathNote on hold and will be focusing on Doc Savage. As for Comic-Con, he doesn’t like too many reveals from the movies like Iron Man 3 at last year’s Comic-Con. He wants his movies to remain a surprise.

Richard Gunn

Starring in the sci-fi show Granite Flats, Gunn spoke to Laura about his show. Set in 1962, the show is about outside forces (aliens) taken over a small town. It is on its’ second season and has gathered a lot of attention with the young actors on the show. He also spoke about his upcoming film called Nightmares. He said it will feature a succubus – which everyone knows will be a strong female villain. Win. Go strong women! Did we mention that Gunn was Sketchy from Dark Angel! Yes, Laura geeked out.

Gale Ann Hurd

Laura spoke with executive producer, Gale Ann Hurd, about the upcoming season for The Walking Dead. With new showrunner Scott Gimple, Hurd said to expect a shocking season. She couldn’t reveal much but she said to expect the show to be like Gimple’s episodes – such as Hounded, Clear, This Sorrowful Life – with a lot of emotion and action. Laura tried to get some secrets out from her but she just said it’s going to be an exciting season.

Cas Anvar

Laura spoke to Cas Anvar about his upcoming film Diana about Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed. Yes, it’s not nerdy but Anvar has a history of nerdiness. He voiced characters in Call of Duty: Black Ops II and Halo 4. He was also Sayid’s brother from LOST. We spoke to him about his time on LOST (being that this was Laura’s favorite show before). He expressed it was a great show and if there was ever a LOST movie or reunion (we are praying for it), he would sign up instantly (his character didn’t die). He loves working for JJ Abrams and the LOST family. Memories.

Jonathan Banks

We spoke to Jonathan Banks about his character Mike from Breaking Bad. We asked what he hoped to see of the other characters in the end. He said he hoped that Jesse Pinkman would just get out from his relationship with Heisenberg/Walter White and out of the business overall. He really clicked with the actors and felt that it was a great experience. We asked about his other pilot (that was not picked up but gathered a lot of fan requests) Bloodline. He said he will talk to the creator about releasing the pilot episode for the fans. Laura is really hoping websites like Hulu or Netflix would pick it up the series.

John Savage

Character actor John Savage spoke to Laura about his many roles in Sci-Fi, but how he would be interested in playing an historic figure. When asked if he preferred sci-fi to other roles, he expressed, “I am interested in doing historical pieces.” He has played various characters in film and television such as a president, sheriff, priest, father, villain, etc but his favorite has been a leadership role. And yes, we were excited because he was on Star Trek: Voyager before.

All in all, a great night for the sci-fi, fantasy, and horror genres.

Here’s a complete list of all the winners:

FILM AWARDS

Best Science Fiction Film: Marvel’s The Avengers

Best Fantasy Film: Life of Pi

Best Horror/Thriller Film: The Cabin in the Woods

Best Action/Adventure Film: Skyfall

Best Actor: Matthew McConaughey (Killer Joe)

Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence (The Hunger Games)

Best Supporting Actor: Clark Gregg (Marvel’s The Avengers)

Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway (The Dark Knight Rises)

Best Performance by a Younger Actor: Suraj Sharma (Life of Pi)

Best Director: Joss Whedon (Marvel’s The Avengers)

Best Writing: Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained)

Best Production Design: Dan Hennah (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey)